


read between the lines

by Faye_Reynolds



Series: tumblr au prompts [14]
Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, college professors!AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-16
Updated: 2018-01-16
Packaged: 2019-03-05 13:32:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13388844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faye_Reynolds/pseuds/Faye_Reynolds
Summary: frommy tumblr post





	read between the lines

**Author's Note:**

> from [my tumblr post](http://thecompanyofheroes.co.vu/post/163241824883/speirton-college-professorsau-as-a-professor)

as a professor at one of the last male-only colleges left in the nation, lip didn’t expect so many applicants for the english program. but for the past two years, the classes have been full.  lip had always loved teaching. he loved when he got to witness the moment when everything clicked in his students’ minds and their eyes lit up with understanding and the love for english literature that he had. it made everything he had to put up with, worth it. his main source of frustration and anger was currently the department chair and sole professor of their edgar allan poe course, one necessary for graduation. norman dike was not a terrible man, but as a man who cared more about his title than his students, he wasn’t a good professor and it showed in his students. many of them filled lip’s office during his office hours  _begging_  for his help. and he could only do so much, what with his actual students needing his help too. and when he couldn’t help them all, he felt like a failure. like he’d disappointed the young men that had grown to depend on him. when web comes to his office, near tears because dike had messed up his midterm grade in a huge mistake, lip storms into the dick’s office and demands that dike be removed as a professor. one week later, dike gratefully resigned from the course and dick has a replacement coming in the following week. lip took over teaching and he could see the students’ relief and excitement on their faces. and he was happy that he could at least help them get someone new. two weeks later, lip has yet to meet the new professor, but it is a  _college_  and the kids are relatively young, so rumors fly about professor speirs. malarkey had told him that he swore he heard speirs threaten to shoot three students if they showed up late again. and skip had told him that he heard speirs kicked out another student for texting during his lecture. and then toye, not one for gossip, says he heard that speirs just got out of prison and someone high up owed him a favor. lips laughs them off when they invade his office, a little frightened. they ask lip to ask speirs to be less intense because it’s hard to focus on the lecture when they’re scared shitless. lip agrees and the next day he seeks out the infamous professor ronald speirs. and what he finds is more than he ever expected.

* * *

 

from the first moment lip saw speirs, he knew he was fucked. ron speirs was pretty much everything lip had ever wanted. 

dark, messy hair, dark eyes, defined jaw meeting in the middle to form a set of perfect, slightly pale lips which were wrapped around a coffee mug. his eyes traced along the planes of the man’s body, focusing on broad shoulders, toned arms, and rough hands holding a book of edgar allan poe poetry. 

lip was speechless.

“you’ve been staring long enough, i’m inclined to believe you see something you like?”

lip followed the deep voice,  _that voice_ , and his heart raced at the smug smile on the man’s face.

lip cleared his throat,  _twice,_  and gather his confidence to sit across from the man he’d heard so much about. 

he put his hand forward, “professor carwood lipton, everyone calls me lip, i teach romantic english lit.”

ron put his hand forward slowly, and lip didn’t miss the thorough eye’s checking him out, “ron speirs, i’m dike’s replacement.”

lip let out an involuntary sigh of relief, “thank god for that.”

he sat down on the chair across from ron and smiled..

he didn’t receive a smile in return, but ron put his book down so lip assumed it was a sign of interest in conversation.

“i’m under the assumption that he was a shit professor?”

“what makes you say that?” lip frowned, dick would’ve never used those exact words. nix for sure, but dick was a bit more diplomatic. 

ron smiled, “every student has told me so.”

lip laughed warmly, “i mean, they’re not wrong. he’s not a bad guy, just a bad leader. and these boys need more than that.”

ron nodded and lip looked at him curiously. when ron met his eyes, lip’s shifted to the ceiling.

“so,” he breathed out, “edgar allan poe? what made you choose him?”

ron was silent for a minute, “he’s underestimated.”

lip balked, “under…underestimated? how so?”

ron smiled like he was remembering a fond memory.

“there’s so much about him that is still a mystery. he was mysterious in life and death and his legacy. and people still believe they know all there is to know. i mean we have him to thank for more than the raven and the tell-tale heart and annabel lee.”

lip leaned forward as he saw the passion rise in ron’s eyes. wanting so deeply to drown in it. 

“and that’s another thing. his  _greatest_ , which is completely based on each individual’s opinion, works are magnificent and so are his not so popular works. did you know sir arthur conan doyle praised poe for bringing life to the detective story? he’s underestimated because no one knows just how far-reaching his influence is. he’s underestimated because his works, however popular or unpopular, still have a powerful effects on those who read and study them. he’s underestimated because he’s the greatest author and poet in american history and yet people just use him for fucking halloween spirit and when they want to pretend to be fucking deep rather than truly understand what he was trying to convey.”

ron finished with an angered huff and lip was in love. he’d never met another professor as in love and passionate about their subjects. god he want to learn everything going on in ron’s head.

“why are you looking at me like at?”

lip blinked slowly, coming back down from the academic high.

“what way?” he asked and noticed the curious look on ron’s face, eyes narrowed like he was trying to figure something out.

ron smiled, that same smug smile he had before, “like you just found religion.”

lip laughed and bit his lip, “well, i am a romantic at heart.”

ron smiled and lip loved how easily they were able to become comfortable with one another. he’d never felt such a connection so quickly before. 

it was as if….no. no way.

“i guess you are,” ron looked to lip’s mouth and bit his own lip, “so why do you teach what you teach? you don’t strike me as someone who could lecture on austen for his entire life.”

lip laughed softly, “are you kidding me? i could talk about jane austen for the rest of my life, teaching or not. to be able to describe love and affection and admiration so eloquently it was what first drew me into english and then teaching. and then in college i read jane eyre for the first time and i was absolutely in love. i knew i couldn’t possibly teach anything else. i’ve heard from a lot of other professors and colleagues that they think austen and brontë and shelley are overrated and outdated, but i don’t give a shit.”

he notice ron gradually lean closer, mirroring what lip did when ron was talking. that same passion in his eyes as when he was talking about poe. lip was transfixed.

he lowered his voice, and watched ron swallow heavily as he continued, “it’s my job as a professor to prove how wonderful and timeless these works are. they convey so much of the human condition and how powerful and devastating love can be. how, through trials and tribulations and heartbreaks and betrayal and lies can be overcome by three simple, but true, words. there are no more powerful words in any language than i love you. and austen and brontë completely capture that in a single novel.”

lip smiles shyly and blushes when ron says, “you’re incredible.”

they stare at one another a moment too long because nix clears his throat and when lip looked over he saw a wide, knowing smile.

“i see you two have finally met.”

lip smiled and looked from nix back to ron who hadn’t stopped staring at lip.

“yeah, we were just talking about why we chose to teach what we teach.” lip laughed and decided to try to get nix out of the longue as fast as possible, “why don’t you tell ron why  _exactly_  you got into teaching counterintelligence courses, nix?” 

nix eye’s narrowed and he stormed out of the room with a middle finger pointed at lip.

lip just laughed until it died in his throat when he saw ron, still looking at him. 

he smiled slyly, “you’ve been staring long enough, i’m inclined to believe you see something you like.”

ron smiled back and lip’s heart started racing again.

ron let out a small breath, “i do.”

lip braced himself, hoping he wasn’t being to forward, “do you want to have dinner sometime?”

ron let of a sigh of relief, “hell yes.”

lip smiled and dick popped his head around the corner, “guys the meeting is is going to start in twenty minutes.”

the both nodding, smiling.

dick moved to leave but then popped back in, “lip whatever you said to nix, please apologize. i can’t handle an entire meeting of his brooding.”

lip nodded, “sure.”

then both got up and started heading towards but lip stopped ron in the doorway.

“i have to admit i didn’t come in here to ask you out.”

ron frowned, but lip noticed the mischief in his eyes, “no? i’m heartbroken.”

lip laughed, “some of my students ask me t-”

ron sighed, “you wanna know if they’re true or not, the stories about me?”

lip nodded lightly, “they do. they say it’s hard to concentrate and in a small, elite school like this, rumors fly.”

ron smiled, white teeth flashing against the fluorescent lights in the lounge,  “did you ever notice with stories like that, everyone says they heard it from someone who was there. then when you ask that person, they say they heard it from someone who was there.”

ron sighed, like he was used to this question and having to explain himself. lip regretted bringing it up.

ron continued, softly, “it’s nothing new, really. i bet if you went back two thousand years, you’d hear a couple centurions standing around yakkin’ about how tertius lopped off the heads of some carthaginian prisoners.”

lip smiled and ron smiled back, “well, maybe they kept talking about it because they never heard tertius deny it.”

ron laughed, “maybe that’s because tertius knew there was some value to the men thinking he was the meanest, toughest son of a bitch in the whole roman legion.”

lip was once again mesmerized by the man before him.

ron broke their eye contact, a little regretfully, and moved to leave. lip grabbed his arm lightly, needing to let ron know that he was needed and wanted by more than just him. 

“ron?”

ron turned to look at first lip’s contact with his arm and then into his eyes.

“these boys aren’t really concerned about the stories. they’re just glad to have you as their professor. they’re happy to have a good leader again.” lip smiled reassuringly.

ron placed his own hand over lip’s, and held tight. he took a deep breath and spoke softly, “well, from what I’ve heard, they’ve always had one. i’ve been told there’s always been one man they could count on. led them through their midterms, held them together when they had the shit kicked out of them with term papers.  _every day_ , he kept their spirits up, kept the boys focused, gave ‘em direction… all the things a good professor and leader does.”

lip looked at ron blankly, not sure where he was going with it or who he was talking about.

ron smiled, “you don’t have any idea who i’m talking about, do you?”

lip gently shook his head, completely lost.

ron took a step closer, backing lip against the doorframe. 

“hell, it was you, professor lipton. ever since winters made dean, you’ve been the leader of the boys of the english department. they love you lip. they never stop talking about you.” ron looked down shyly and then looked at lip through his lashes, “and after meeting you. i can absolutely see why.”

lip had no control as his pressed his lips softly against ron’s and fully deepening the kiss when ron gasped.

they heard a light clearing of someone’s throat and pulled apart reluctantly.

lip’s eyes widened when he saw gene roe, blushing furiously and looking nervous.

ron kissed him once more, chaste and simple, like he’d been doing it forever and god, lip never wanted to kiss anyone that wasn’t ron. 

then ron headed towards the conference room and lip turned to roe.

“yeah roe, what’s up?”

“i-i uhm, i’m havin’ trouble with my thesis on jane eyre. i wanna write about rochester’s desperation, but i can’t get my thoughts straight.”

lip patted roe on the shoulder, and walked him through the steps of outlining and web thought mapping.

roe sighed in relief when it finally clicked in his head.

“thanks lip, i couldn’t get it all straight in my head.”

lip smiled, “it’s okay, you have to many great ideas roaming around in there, i can understand why.”

roe smiled shyly, “thanks.” roe went to walk away but turned around and leaned into lip and whispered, “by the way, i didn’t see anythin’.”

he winked and walked away. lip smiled and nodded in return. 

lip didn’t even have to apologize to nix, ron talked to him before lip even got into the meeting.

nix slapped lip’s arm, “good luck on your date, lip.”

lip smiled and sat next to ron.

their hands were linked the entire meeting.

and for the first time in his life, lip felt like one of the characters in the novels he based his life on. 

he felt like he was in love.

* * *

**two years later**

boston in the spring was perhaps lip’s favorite time of year and ron was certain that it was it the perfect time to marry the love of his life.

since the day they met, ron and lip had been inseparable. it didn’t help that they worked together. he’d lost count of how many people had discovered them making out, all hot and bothered, in various parts of the university. it had been a whirlwind of emotions, to say the least, for both of them. but it made it all the more real. they loved it all. 

they loved the summer, teaching classes outside. letting the student feel the rhythm of the words on the page, the music of a story unfolding before them. they loved relaxing on the grass, hands entwined, grades papers with the other. it’s on an ordinary day, with lip laughing at luz’s paper on the patriarchy in jane eyre, that ron realizes he’s in love with lip. 

they loved fall when they could walk through campus, leaves falling around them and changing colors before their eyes. lip catches a bright red one just as it’s about to fall on ron’s head. lip repeats a line from the masque of the red death, in a raspy voice, fingers creeping along ron’s chest, the trail of halloween sneaking up on them. and it’s on that cold autumn day, lip laughing softly at ron’s wides eyes. it’s on that cold autumn day,  when ron first tells lip, he loves him. 

they loved the winter, cuddled on the couch during cold, bleak nights when they would recite poetry and monologues to one another. where they could be away from the school for nearly a month and just be with one another on their own. it’s on a snowed in night, a fire blazing softly, whiskey warming them from the inside out, and their feet entangled on the couch, that their lives change. after an emotional rendition of annabel lee, ron crying out lines, voice wrecked, on his knees in front of lip, that ron proposes to lip with tears in his eyes. lip tackles him to the floor with a kiss that’s forever carved onto ron’s lips.

it only makes sense that they get married during spring. the time of year when lip’s favorite flowers were in bloom. where the scent of rain lingered for months. two years, to the day, since they first met. two hours after their favorite classes graduated, most of them sticking around for the graduate programs ron and lip now run entirely by themselves. their was a small gazebo on campus, just outside the lake and lip had chosen it because he and ron had met there the first time they read some of their favorite passages to one another. it was the place that lip realized he was absolutely and irrevocably in love with ron. 

all of them are already in suits and luz and toye had ran around campus right after graduation, gather flowers for all of them. it was a small gazebo so the majority of the boys and faculty were around it, instead of in it. 

beside lip stood luz and beside ron stood grant, both students who were now their teaching assistants and, if they were forced to tell the truth, their favorite students. not because they were smarter, better, or more likable. but lip and ron saw a kinship within them that reflected their own love and passion for their crafts. 

buck was officiating, having gotten his license for dick and nix’s wedding.

the couple had prepared their own vows.

this was it. 

ron hoped lip wasn’t mad or felt cheated, but no amount of words could convey everything he felt for lip. their love and  _his_  love for lip was more than he could ever sum up in a mere paragraph. if he had his way, he’d talk for years about his love for lip. 

he looked deep into lip’s eyes, tears threatening to fall over and he spoke ten simple words that he hoped lip would understand. 

he smiled and squeezed lip’s hands, “we loved with a love that was more than love.”

the entire group sighed and lip laughed warmly.

buck laughed, “lip?”

lip smiled, “sorry fellas.”

he pulled ron a little closer to him and entwined their fingers.

“you must allow me to tell you how ardently i admire and love you.”

ron smiled, tears finally mirroring lip’s and falling down his cheeks.

they exchange rings quickly and before he knew it, lip was in ron’s arms being kissed within an inch of his life.

they pulled apart with large cheers and hollers.

“i love you, ron.”

ron laughed against lip’s mouth, “i love you too, mr. darcy.”

lips slapped him and the two accepted a lot of hugs from the men they had the pleasure of calling their family.

and they’d never felt happier or more complete than in each other’s arms as husbands.


End file.
